Annie Rimmer and the SS Athenia
Annie Rimmer LYDZ-X4X was born in 1882 at 14 Bury Road, Birkdale to Margaret Rainford M6K4-PF3 and Robert Rimmer KJGH-FP5 . She was baptised on 9th July 1882 at St. Peter’s Church, Birkdale, Southport. Both her parents hailed from Halsall and when her grandfather, also named Robert Rimmer GXR2-RC1, died in 1883, Annie and her parents returned to Morris Lane, Halsall to live with her grandmother, Mary Rimmer, nee Hesketh M6K4-PXH. The family had a threshing machine business which was based in Morris Lane at Four Lane Ends.
On 25th December 1884 Annie’s sister Mary GGKV-QL4 was born followed by their youngest sister, Ada 9JNS-B5G in 1887. We can see from looking at the census records that the family was still in Morris Lane in 1891 and 1901. However, on 8th June 1908, Annie’s father died which meant that his wife, Margaret was left to run the threshing machine business with the assistance of her daughter Mary’s husband, John Heaton GNFM-Q44 (who eventually took over the business). In 1911, Annie was still at home with her mother Margaret, and sister Ada and they continued to live on Morris Lane. Annie’s mother died on 22nd March 1914 and was buried at Halsall Church with her husband.
We next see Annie only 3 months later on 24th June 1914, marrying Thomas Edward Quine MCNM-Y19, at Braddan in the Isle of Man.
It is not clear why Annie was in the Isle of Man at this time, maybe she was on holiday or perhaps in employment there.
Thomas Edward Quine was born in the Isle of Man in 1885 but had recently emigrated to the USA and may have been home visiting family when he met Annie.
Just two months after their marriage, the carefree newlyweds set sail for New York on SS Saxonia which left the Port of Liverpool on 29th September 1914. In 1920 the couple were living in Ohio, USA and Thomas was working as a contractor in the building industry. Interestingly though, by 1930 he had a complete career change and was a chiropractor, now Dr. Thomas Edward Quine. Thomas and Annie continued to live in the USA but they also visited family back home from time to time.
On 21st June 1939, they set sail from New York on the SS Cameronia which was bound for Glasgow. They gave their address in England as ‘Morris Lane, Halsall’. Having spent their Summer holiday visiting family and friends, they were forced to head back to the USA because of the declaration of war on 1st September 1939. Would this be the last time they would see their Halsall family? Arrangements were made to travel back home and they joined SS Athenia, (which was bound for Montreal, Canada) at Liverpool on 2nd September 1939, just one day after the declaration of WW2.
Having set sail at 13:00 hours on 2nd September on that fateful voyage, they reached as far as the Atlantic Ocean (250 miles off the North West coast of Ireland) when the ship was sunk by an enemy submarine on 3rd September 1939.
Of the 1418 people aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew members were killed. Dr. Thomas Edward Quine was rescued and taken to safety in Glasgow, however, his wife, Annie did not survive – she was lost at sea – one of the first victims of the Second World War.
Annie’s husband, Thomas eventually returned to their home in Fullerton, California and lived until he was 91 years old. He died on 27th August 1977 and is buried at Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, USA.
SS Athenia was the first British ship to be sunk in WW2. At first the Germans
denied that they were responsible as they feared that the attack by the submarine U-30 would bring the US into the war because the death toll included 54 Canadian and 28 US citizens. It wasn’t until the Nuremberg trials in 1946 that the truth about
Athenia’s fate was admitted publicly by the Germans.
If you would like to find out more about SS Athenia, please watch the video or follow the link to Wikipedia
